Dodi Fayed

Biography
by Sandra Brennan

The son of multi-millionaire Mohamed Al Fayed, Dodi Fayed is best-remembered for his relationship with the internationally popular Princess of Wales, Diana Spencer, than for having executive produced such major features as FX (1982) and The Scarlet Letter (1995). Both Fayed and the princess perished in a traffic accident in a Paris tunnel on August 31, 1997. Fayed became involved in films in 1980 when he produced the documentary Breaking Glass (1980). As a producer, Fayed offered financing rather than creative input to films. In Hollywood, Fayed had a sort of double image. On one hand, he was known for giving elaborate parties in opulent, rented Southern California homes; on the other, he was increasingly known for writing bad checks. Fayed had founded his own production company, Allied Stars Inc., but none of the projects he and five associates had planned came to fruition. On the night he and Lady Di were in the accident, they were dining at his father's Ritz-Carleton Hotel in Paris.